19:15 Newcastle

Thursday 25 January 2024

All16:1516:4517:1517:4518:1518:4519:15

BetMGM: It's Showtime Handicap

Off time: 19:15 | Winning time: 1m 28.71s

(3)

Kalganov^p¹⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 9-9| J: Phil Dennis| T: M Dods| OR: 77| CD

9/2

C&D winner. Three wins from 15 runs last year. Latest win here in December. 25/1, creditable fifth of 12 in handicap at Wolverhampton (7.2f) 18 days ago. Not out of things.

Form: 07510-5

(1)

Vecchio²¹⁵

Age: 4| Weight: 9-8| J: Elisha Whittington⁽³⁾| T: S Dixon| OR: 76

33/1

Seventh of 8 in handicap (6/1) at Newmarket (7f, good). Off 7 months. Makes tapeta debut. First run for yard after leaving Freddie & Martyn Meade.

Form: 6424/47-

(7)

Matty Too^v⁴³

Age: 5| Weight: 9-8| J: J Mitchell| T: E A L Dunlop| OR: 76| D

9/2

Ninth of 11 in handicap (16/1) at Kempton (7f) 43 days ago. Improvement required on tapeta debut.

Form: 130079-

(8)

Westmorian¹⁷

Age: 5| Weight: 9-3| J: S H James| T: Grant Tuer| OR: 71| C

7/1

Course winner. 15/2, eighth of 11 in handicap at this course (5f) 17 days ago. Significantly up in trip. Others more persuasive.

Form: 73448-8

(9)

Dragons Will Rise²¹

Age: 8| Weight: 9-3| J: Aiden Brookes⁽⁵⁾| T: Micky Hammond| OR: 71| C

28/1

4-time course winner. Eight wins from 27 Flat runs. Sixth of 11 in handicap (50/1) at this course (8f) 21 days ago. Easy enough to look elsewhere.

Form: 1537/0-6

(6)

Leap Day^p1¹⁴

Age: 4| Weight: 9-3| J: D Allan| T: T D Easterby| OR: 71| BF

3/1

Found improvement when scoring at Southwell (8.1f) last month and backed that up with creditable fourth of 10 in handicap over same C&D 14 day ago. Cheekpieces on first time. Merits consideration.

Form: 25431-4

(10)

Sibyl Charm¹³

Age: 4| Weight: 9-0| J: A Mullen| T: I Jardine| OR: 68| BF

9/4

Back to best when narrow second of 11 in handicap (11/8) at Wolverhampton (6.1f) 13 days ago, left poorly placed. Just 1 lb higher now and holds strong claims.

Form: 06402-2

(2)

Sparkle In His Eye¹⁶

Age: 8| Weight: 8-10| J: Billy Garritty| T: Micky Hammond| OR: 64| C| D

33/1

Course winner. Latest win at Musselburgh in August. 22/1, last of 10 in handicap at Southwell (6.1f) 16 days ago. Others more appealing.

Form: 02513-0

Non-Runners

(4)

Gobi Sunset²

Weight: 9-7| Age: 7

T: I Jardine J: D Nolan

(5)

One More Dream¹⁴

Weight: 9-1| Age: 5

T: J & S Quinn J: Gianluca Sanna

Forecasts

Sibyl Charm (9/4), Leap Day (3/1), Matty Too (9/2), Kalganov (9/2), Westmorian (7/1), Gobi Sunset (8/1), Dragons Will Rise (28/1), Sparkle In His Eye (33/1), Vecchio (33/1), One More Dream (50/1)

SIBYL CHARM was unfortunate not to score at Wolverhampton last time and remains fairly treated. She can gain compensation here. Leap Day and Kalganov can also make their presence felt.